Celebrate Brenda Jackson's 150th book, Spilling the Tea! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Tuesday, May 15 @ 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP WITH BOOK

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ninety-something Mama Laverne is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren their perfect match before going home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent—and she intends to keep it that way.

Ninety-something-year-old Felicia Laverne Madaris, known in the family as Mama Laverne, is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren the perfect match before she goes home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent, and she intends to keep it that way.

After sustaining injuries in Iraq, US Army Ranger Chancellor (Chance) Madaris was told he’d never walk again. Chance credits his great-grandmother, Mama Laverne, with giving him the will and fortitude to heal and prove the doctors wrong. He has a healthy respect for her meddling ways and knows he’ll eventually end up next on her matchmaker’s list.

When Zoey Pritchard was eight, she survived a car accident that left both her parents dead. She was sent to live with her great-aunt who refused to speak about her parents. Zoey has no memory from before the crash, but she’s been having the same dream over and over…

Guided by nothing but a hunch and images from her dream, Zoey travels to Houston. Searching for answers, Zoey uncovers a scandal involving her parents and the wealthy and powerful Madaris family. Her trail leads her straight to Chance’s door. The dislike and intense attraction are instant and simultaneous. Was it chance or Mama Laverne’s plan to throw this pair together?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BRENDA JACKSON is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than one hundred contemporary multicultural romance novels, including the Madaris Family series, the Westmorelands series, and The Playas series. She was the first African-American author to have a book published under the Harlequin/Silhouette Desire line and the first African-American romance author to hit both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists in the series romance genre. Many of her books have been adapted into movies. Brenda lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and divides her time between family, writing and traveling. brendajackson.net.

Now you can support your favorite independent bookstore everywhere you go!

Wear our little bookshop with Love and Pride.

New York Times bestselling and award-winning duo Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney create a joyful and beautiful ode to all bright brown baby boys -- the fifth title in our acclaimed Bright Brown Baby series!

Baby boy. Precious boy. Yes! You’re a STAR!

A joyful, poetic celebration and ode to all bright brown baby boys. With bouncing, rhythmic text from New York Times bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney and tender, charming illustrations from Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney, this tender affirmation is the perfect way to rejoice and teach your child that they truly are a star!

This board book is part of the Bright Brown Baby publishing program, a celebration of Black and brown joy, babies, and families. And if you're looking for a gift-able picture book, be sure to also check out the beautiful picture book treasury, Bright Brown Baby, to read "Baby Boy, You’re a Star!" alongside four more poems. Just-right for new and expectant parents, baby showers, birthdays, graduations, and more! This is a perfect addition to every child's growing Bright Brown Baby bookshelf!

Celebrate the release of Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership with Brea Baker!

This event is in partnership with Project Row Houses.

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, June 29 at 2 PM 

Where: Project Row Houses (2521 Holman Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to attend the talk or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and programming.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Why is less than 1% of rural land in the U.S. owned by Black people? An acclaimed writer and activist explores the impact of land theft and violent displacement on racial wealth gaps, arguing that justice stems from the literal roots of the earth.

To understand the contemporary racial wealth gap, we must first unpack the historic attacks on Indigenous and Black land ownership. From the moment that colonizers set foot on Virginian soil, a centuries-long war was waged, resulting in an existential dilemma: Who owns what on stolen land? Who owns what with stolen labor? To answer these questions, we must confront one of this nation’s first sins: stealing, hoarding, and commodifying the land.

Research suggests that between 1910 and 1997, Black Americans lost about 90% of their farmland. Land theft widened the racial wealth gap, privatized natural resources, and created a permanent barrier to access that should be a birthright for Black and Indigenous communities. Rooted traces the experiences of Brea Baker's family history of devastating land loss in Kentucky and North Carolina, identifying such violence as the root of persistent inequality in this country. Ultimately, her grandparents' commitment to Black land ownership resulted in the "Bakers Acres"—a family haven where they are sustained by the land, surrounded by love, and wholly free.

A testament to the Black farmers who dreamed of feeding, housing, and tending to their communities, Rooted bears witness to their commitment to freedom and reciprocal care for the land. By returning equity to a dispossessed people, we can heal both the land and our nation’s soul.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brea Baker has been working on the frontlines for over a decade. She believes deeply in nuanced storytelling and Black culture to drive change, and has commented on race, gender, and sexuality for Elle, Harper’s BAZAAR, Refinery29, THEM, and more. Her writing has been featured in the anthologies OUR HISTORY HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONTRABAND and NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE.

A Yale alumna, Brea has been recognized as a 2017 Glamour Woman of the Year, a 2019 i-D Up and Rising, and a 2023 Creative Capital awardee. She has spoken at the United Nations' Girl Up Initiative, Yale Law School, the Youth 2 Youth Summit in Hong Kong, the Museum of City of New York, and more.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Kavon Ward is an award-winning spoken word artist and activist. Within the past decade, Kavon has won 1st place at the historic Apollo Theater and has shared the stage with gospel artists Hezekiah Walker, Patti LaBelle, Fantasia, and activists like Joe Madison and Dick Gregory, to perform her piece, “I Am Trayvon Martin” Kavon is the founder of Justice for Bruce’s Beach and has led the historic and successful movement that made it possible for stolen land to be returned to the descendants of Black landowners, Willa and Charles Bruce. The descendants of the Bruces recently sold the reclaimed land to LA County for $20 million dollars. Kavon was named a 35th Senate District, 2022 Woman of the Year by Senator Steven Bradford.

Kavon has since been quoted in the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker, and a host of other articles. She has interviewed with NPR, 94.7 The WAVE, and a number of other radio stations, to discuss what justice for the Bruce family means and what reparations for Black Americans look like. Kavon has partnered with Patrisse Cullors, of Black Lives Matter, to create a petition calling for restitution and restoration for the Bruce family. Kavon is a reparative justice consultant and Founder and CEO of Where Is My Land, an organization focused on getting Black land back nationally. She is a former Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) fellow and public policy lobbyist. Kavon holds a BA in Communications and a Master of Public Administration.

Join us as we celebrate the release of Golden Ax with Rio Cortez and poet author, Ariana Brown. 

EVENT DEETS

When: September 25 @7PM CST

Where: Virtual via Crowdcast

How: Register on this page or head over to register on Crowdcast directly using this link.  If you register using our website (with or without purchasing the book) and not Crowdcast, you will register a Crowdcast watch link at least 24 hours before the start of the event.

About the Book 

“Outstanding . . . the poetry in these pages is intelligent, lyrical, as invested in the past as the present and future with witty nods to pop culture.” —Roxane Gay, author of Hunger
 
“I’ve never read anything like it. Truly a sublime experience.” —Jason Reynolds, author of Ain’t Burned All the Bright

A groundbreaking collection about Afropioneerism past and present from Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and New York Times bestselling author Rio Cortez

From a visionary writer praised for her captivating work on Black history and experience, comes a poetry collection exploring personal, political, and artistic frontiers, journeying from her family's history as "Afropioneers" in the American West to shimmering glimpses of transcendent, liberated futures. 
 
In poems that range from wry, tongue-in-cheek observations about contemporary life to more nuanced meditations on her ancestors—some of the earliest Black pioneers to settle in the western United States after Reconstruction—Golden Ax invites readers to re-imagine the West, Black womanhood, and the legacies that shape and sustain the pursuit of freedom. 

About the Author 

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and I Have Learned to Define a Field As a Space Between Mountains, winner of the 2015 Toi Dericotte and Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize. Her honors include a Poets & Writers Amy Award, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, The Jerome Foundation, and Poet’s House. Rio holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University.

About the Conversation Partner

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, TX, currently based in Houston. She is the author of We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). Ariana’s work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, Black relationality and girlhood, loneliness, and care. She holds a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies, an M.F.A. in Poetry, and is pursuing an M.L.S. in Library Science. Ariana is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion and owes much of her practice to Black performance communities led by Black women poets from the South. She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for over ten years. Follow Ariana online @ArianaThePoet.

Celebrate the release of Black Girls Breathing with Jasmine Marie!

EVENT DEETS:

When: Thursday, February 6th @ 7PM

Where: Hogan Brown Gallery, 2310 Elgin St, HTX, 77004

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming

ABOUT THE BOOK:

As a Black woman, Jasmine Marie knows the impact that intergenerational trauma and systemic racism have had—and continue to have—on her community. Those experiences, along with her own journey through chronic stress, are why she created black girls breathing®, a movement dedicated to helping Black women understand the power of the mind‑body connection and its impact on their holistic health, one breath at a time.  

In Black Girls Breathing, Jasmine Marie offers you the power of breathwork, and the revolutionary nature of slowing down and turning inward. With each intentional breath, you’ll learn how to sink deeper into your body to begin to undo the trauma that’s long been stored. Sharing exercises from her unique somatic philosophies proven by data and utilized by tens of thousands of participants to date, Jasmine Marie will also help you:

• Connect more fully to your body
• Give yourself permission to rest
• Heal the chronic stress you carry in your body and nervous system
• Address emotional pain
• Rebuild your sense of self and your community

This is a long-overdue resource for every Strong Black Woman—the woman ready to break cycles of trauma, heal the internalized beliefs of perfectionism and conditional self‑worth, and follow the wisdom of her inner voice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jasmine Marie is a speaker, breathwork practitioner, and founder of black girls breathing®, a wellness platform that provides Black women with tools to heal trauma in the body and reduce chronic stress and anxiety. An alum of NYU Stern School of Business, Jasmine Marie’s work has been featured in Good Morning America, VOGUE, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Glamour, Nylon Mag, Black Enterprise, Oprah Magazine, Well + Good, Wall Street Journal, Bust Magazine, Goop, MindBodyGreen, Refinery29, Pix11 NY, The Cut, FoxSoul, Cosmopolitan, and PopSugar Fitness, among others.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER:

Raveen Johnson is a Wellness Writer, Registered Yoga Teacher, Journaling Workshop Guide and a deep advocate for Mental/Emotional Health.
Raveen has been hosting journaling workshops in Houston since 2016, and has since expanded the offering locally and internationally. She offers the practice of journaling as a form of expression that supports mental, emotional and even physical healing. The intention is to be able to use our words in ways that compassionately support the lives that we desire for ourselves.
Raveen's yoga journey began in 2016 as a student. The practice re-introduced her to herself in way that was more empowering, strong and gracious than before. Raveen knew she wanted to effectively share the practice with others so she received her 200HR-RYT certification in 2020 at BIG Power Yoga in Houston, Texas. Four years later in 2024, Raveen received another 200HR certification under the guidance of Sarah Montross and Gioconda Parker so that she could further expand her knowledge and practice of yoga.
Journaling and yoga offer a relationship with ourselves and others that is loving, accepting and trustworthy; these are important ingredients in the recipe of following your gut and being present to your life. Raveen is delighted to use these tools to support the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of your personal healing journey.

Join us to celebrate the release of Decent People with Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner, De'Shawn Charles WInslow & MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow, Kiese Laymon. 

EVENT DEETS

When: January 18 at 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden, 2304 Stuart Street, Houston, TX 77004

How: RSVP for a free ticket or RSVP with book to support the author and our programming. 

ABOUT DECENT PEOPLE

From prizewinning author De’Shawn Charles Winslow, a sweeping and unforgettable novel of a Black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the secrets the killings reveal.

In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976, Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon—three enigmatic siblings—are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills— on both sides of the canal that serves as the town’s color line—are in a frenzy of finger-pointing, gossip, and wonder. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don’t seem to have any interest in solving the case.

Fortunately, one person is determined to do more than talk. Miss Josephine Wright has just moved back to West Mills from New York City to retire and marry a childhood sweetheart, Olympus “Lymp” Seymore. When she discovers that the murder victims are Lymp’s half-siblings, and that Lymp is one of West Mills’s leading suspects, she sets out to prove his innocence. But as Jo investigates those who might know the most about the Harmons’ deaths, she starts to discover more secrets than she’d ever imagined, and a host of cover-ups—ranging from medical misuse to illicit affairs—that could upend the reputations of many.

For readers of American Spy and Bluebird, Bluebird, Decent People is a powerful new novel about shame, race, money, and the reckoning required to heal a fractured community.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Learn about the art of coming home to your body with Lyvonne Briggs!

EVENT DEETS

When: April 5 @ 7PM CST

Where: 3719 Navigation Blvd, HTX 77003 (Holy Family HTX)

How: RSVP ONLY to grab your free ticket or support our programming, author, and store by RSVP WITH BOOK. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lyvonne Briggs, MDiv, ThM, an Emmy Award winner, is a body- and sex-positive womanist preacher, speaker, coach, and creator. Briggs is the host of the Sensual Faith podcast and the founder of beautiful scars, a healing- centered storytelling
agency focused on fostering pleasure and resiliency; visionary of The Proverbial Experience; and now curator of Sensual Faith Sunday, a series of virtual spiritual gatherings to nourish your soul. She has been featured in Essence, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, and The Washington Post, and Sojourners named her one of “11 Women Shaping the Church.” Briggs, a New York City native and proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, is currently based in New Orleans, Louisiana.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Wale (@theehotgirlbooks)is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor working with folks in New York and Texas. She has a double masters degree in mental health counseling from Teachers College Columbia University. After practicing in New York for a few years, Wale moved back to her hometown Houston and started her own therapy practice in 2020. Wale currently works with individuals and couples on a weekly basis.

Join us for the official launch event of Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood & Myth with author, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton and artist, Delita Martin. 

Event DEETS

When: March 7, 2023 at 7PM CST

Where: Project Row House Community Gallery (2521 Holman Street, HTX 77004)

How: Please RSVP reserve your spot. Checkout for RSVP with Book to support our store and the author/artists. 

About Black Chameleon

In the literary tradition of Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, and Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reaped, this debut memoir confronts both the challenges and joys of growing up Black and making your own truth.

Growing up as a Black girl in America, Deborah Mouton felt alienated from the stories she learned in class. She yearned for stories she felt connected to—true ones of course—but also fables and mythologies that could help explain both the world and her place in it. What she encountered was almost always written by white writers who prospered in a time when human beings were treated as chattel, such as the Greek and Roman myths, which felt as dusty and foreign as ancient ruins. When she sought myths written by Black authors, they were rooted too far in the past, a continent away.

Mouton writes, “The phrases of my mother and grandmother began to seem less colloquial and more tied to stories that had been lost along the way. . . . Mythmaking isn’t a lie. It is our moment to take the privilege of our own creativity to fill in the gaps that colonization has stolen from us. It is us choosing to write the tales that our children pull strength from. It is hijacking history for the ignorance in its closets. This, a truth that must start with the women.”

Mouton’s memoir is a song of praise and an elegy for Black womanhood. With a poet’s gift for lyricism and poignancy, Mouton reflects on her childhood as the daughter of a preacher and a harsh but loving mother, living in the world as a Black woman whose love is all too often coupled with danger, and finally learning to be a mother to another Black girl in America. Of the moment yet timeless, playful but incendiary, Mouton has staked out new territory in the memoir form.

About Deborah DEEP Mouton

Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally known writer, educator, activist, and performer and the first Black poet laureate of Houston, Texas. She was formerly ranked the #2 Best Female Performance Poet in the World (PSI). Her recent poetry collection, Newsworthy, garnered her a Pushcart nomination, was named a finalist for the 2019 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award, and received an honorable mention for the Summerlee Book Prize. Its German translation, under the title Berichtenswert, was released in Summer 2021 by Elif Verlag. The opera Marian’s Song, for which she wrote the libretto, debuted in 2020. 

About Delita Martin

Delita Martin is an artist currently based in Huffman, Texas. She received a BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University and an MFA in printmaking from Purdue University. Formerly a member of the fine arts faculty at UA Little Rock in Arkansas, Martin currently works as a full-time artist in her studio, Black Box Press. Martin’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Most recently Martin’s work was included in the State of the Arts: Discovering American Art Now, an exhibition that included 101 artists from around the United States. Her work is in numerous portfolios and collections.

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, June 28 @ 6PM

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, #2, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming

ABOUT THE BOOK

Stepping into the unknown is scary. But what if saying yes despite your fears leads you to a life beyond your imagination? In The Journey of Yes, pastor and podcast host Brenda Palmer shares how everyday obedience freed her from fear and led to profound purpose. Through intimate anecdotes, insightful reflections, and practical guidance, she illuminates the incredible gift of saying yes to God, who leads us through all of life’s opportunities and challenges.

Drawing from scripture and her own personal odyssey—from leaving a dream career and moving across country to giving up financial security and status to follow God's call—Palmer empowers you to conquer fears, embrace vulnerability, and embark on a remarkable journey of self-discovery. She illuminates the paradox that while obedience may come at a cost, it unveils a world of unimaginable blessings and spiritual abundance. As you join her on this journey of faith and obedience, you'll learn that God’s purpose for your life is much grander than material gifts or achieving goals, but about the giver of life Himself.

Palmer’s inspiring revelations and storytelling equip you with a renewed sense of purpose and encouragement to live a life of wholehearted devotion and surrender. Because by saying yes to God, you will uncover a life of infinite possibilities, joy, and lasting fulfillment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brenda Palmer, author of The Journey of Yes is an innovative preacher, producer of The Same Room’s podcast, host of Life In Perspective Podcast and co-host of In The Room Podcast, and leader of the Come Alive movement, which hosts pop-up events to create spaces for people to encounter Jesus. A graduate of Mississippi Valley State University and Syracuse University, Brenda is an emerging millennial thought leader with a passion for helping people unlock their purpose as they surrender to God’s plan.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

RaQuel Hopkins is the founder of Success is Complicated. Her career journey began in the realm of HR, where she ascended to the position of VP of HR for a global telecommunications firm. She then transitioned into coaching and mental health, where she continues to make significant impacts. RaQuel holds a BS in Business, an MBA in International Business, and a Master’s in Clinical and Mental Health Counseling. Dedicated to transcending traditional coping mechanisms, her work is focused on promoting genuine thriving and capacity building in individuals and organizations.

Please join us as we celebrate author, Marcus Bridgewater on his debut, How to Grow!

Event Deets: 

When: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 7 PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden--2304 Stuart Street, Houston, TX 77004

How:   Limited in-person tickets are available. You have the option to grab a ticket for free or purchase the book and ticket (Only books purchased at the event will be eligible to be signed by the author!)

We hope you can join us!

About the Book: 

In this transformative guide, TikTok’s most popular gardener, Marcus Bridgewater—aka Garden Marcus—offers lessons for growth rooted in lessons from the plant world to help cultivate the soul.

Centered on a trinity of wellbeing—Mental Health, Physical Fitness, and Spiritual Awareness, How to Grow weaves together insights from the garden with stories from Marcus’s life to help you foster personal development. With lessons rooted in his experiences gardening—from how a replanted flourishing sweet potato vine is a reminder that all living things benefit from a change of scene, to how to embrace patience to foster growth—this inspiring guide helps you do “the dirty work” (pun intended) to discover kindness, patience, and positivity within. “We cannot make anything grow,” he advises. “But we can foster an environment where it may grow.”

How to Grow isn’t a gardening book. It is a self-help book that draws inspiration from the garden. Original, timely, and filled with nurturing wisdom, it takes perennial knowledge from plants to teach us about ourselves and opens our eyes to what we are capable of achieving.

About the Author

Marcus Bridgewater is a creator, educator, motivational speaker, and plant enthusiast. He is the personality behind Garden Marcus on social media, which demonstrates that a positive, knowledgeable approach to nurturing plants also helps us grow as people. He is the Founder & CEO of Choice Forward, a company that offers life coaching, seminars, and workshops.

About the Moderator

Brittany, creator of Foliage Faerie, operates a small batch, pop-up plant apothecary and nursery. Foliage Faerie was birthed during the pandemic on May 7, 2020 while having her first mother's day pop-up on her front porch when she was a resident in The Young Mother's Residential Program at Project Row Houses.  Plants were just a hobby until realizing that the life cycles of plants, nurturing plants, growing plants, was a reflection of the birthing cycle, physical and metaphysical. It was important to share the similarities within these life cycles as she is a birth worker (doula) as well. Indoor gardening had become a self care/ spiritual practice of hers and she has created a workshop, "Indoor Gardening as a Spiritual Practice" that assists with plant enthusiasts/parents connecting to self and nature though the nurturing of indoor plants. You can find Foliage Faerie on Instagram @foliagefaerie and her website www.foliagefaerie.cm